When an error occurs on a desktop or other user interface, one method of portraying that problem for support purposes is to present a screenshot or image of the user interface with the error visible to a support person. The error may be displayed in a pop-up dialog window or other visible indication to the user. This method is simple and does not require the user to locate and interpret log messages.
Unfortunately, conventional implementations of this method require human interpretation of the image of the user interface, which may lead to improper identification. Additional difficulties may be presented because a user interface may include a combination of several individual, common components, and a pop-up dialog window may be associated with any of the components currently active in the user interface. Message identifiers (IDs) including a combination of alphanumeric characters may be used to overcome some of these problems.